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REPEATED INHALATION OF TOLUENE BY RATS PERFORMING A SIGNAL DETECTION TASK LEADS TO BEHVIORAL TOLERANCE ON SOME PERFORMANCE MEASURES.
Citation:
OSHIRO, W. M., Q. T. KRANTZ, AND P. J. BUSHNELL. REPEATED INHALATION OF TOLUENE BY RATS PERFORMING A SIGNAL DETECTION TASK LEADS TO BEHVIORAL TOLERANCE ON SOME PERFORMANCE MEASURES. NEUROTOXICOLOGY AND TERATOLOGY. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, 29:247-254, (2007).
Impact/Purpose:
to determine whether toluene, a commonly-used solvent, would yield behavioral tolerances if inhaled repeatedly
Description:
Previous work showed that trichloroethylene (TCE) impairs sustained attention as evidenced by a reduction in accuracy and elevation of response latencies in rats trained to perform a visual signal detection task (SDT). This work also showed that these effects abate during repeated exposures if rats inhale TCE while performing the SDT. The present experiment sought to determine whether toluene, another commonly-used solvent, would yield similar behavioral tolerances if inhaled repeatedly during SDT testing. Sixteen male, Long-Evans rats were trained to perform the SDT. Upon completion of training, rats were divided into 2 groups. In Phase I, concentration-effect functions were determined for toluene (0, 1200, 1600, 2000, 2400 ppm) in both groups. Toluene reduced the proportion of correct responses [P(correct)], and increased response times (RT) and response failures. In Phase II, Group-Tol inhaled 1600 ppm toluene while Group-Air inhaled air only during 11-daily SDT sessions. In Group-Tol the effect of toluene on P(correct) abated after 3 days while response times were elevated and remained so for the duration of the repeated exposures. In Phase III, toluene concentration-effect functions were re-determined for both groups. Group-Air was impaired on all test measures, whereas Group-Tol was significantly less affected by toluene. Thus repeated inhalation of toluene can lead to tolerance on some performance measures of a signal detection task.